Attorney A. Leonard Bjorklund Jr.

A funeral will be held today for A. Leonard Bjorklund Jr., an immensely popular Marin County defense lawyer whose arguments were so convincing that a jury once offered to pay for his client's attorney's fees.

Mr. Bjorklund, who handled everything from military trials to murder-for- hire cases during a half-century of practicing law, died Monday of bone marrow cancer. He was 77.

A tall, strikingly good-looking man with a commanding presence, Mr. Bjorklund had a sterling career, but his friends and colleagues said it was his unwavering honesty and integrity that set him apart.

"He was a true gentleman, a defense lawyer from the old school, whose word was his bond," said David I. Brown, a Marin County deputy public defender. "He was distinguished, ethical, tough, compassionate. Leonard was someone who reminded you of Gregory Peck in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird.' He was an old- fashioned lawyer in that he would try a tough and unpopular case in a way that would make everybody respect him even more."

Mr. Bjorklund was born in Cohasset, Mass., in 1926 and grew up in nearby Hingham. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, supervising the unloading of cargo ships in Saipan.

After the war he graduated from Dartmouth College, and in 1949 he earned a law degree at Harvard Law School. He then served as a military lawyer for two years in Japan, handling many courts martial cases.

Mr. Bjorklund moved to the Bay Area in 1954 and worked briefly as a prosecutor in the Alameda County district attorney's office before starting his own legal practice out of a little office in Sausalito and marrying his first wife, Marilyn.

Soft spoken, but extremely intelligent, he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with.

"He was such a gentleman that he could do the work that he did without ruffling feathers," said George Shea, a deputy public defender. "When I first came to criminal defense, I tended to be overly aggressive and distrustful. Leonard was one of the people who talked to me and helped me control my emotions. Getting to see people like that in action is such good experience for lawyers."

Mr. Bjorklund's biggest cases, however, were losses. He defended Mark McDermand, who was found guilty in 1981 of shooting and killing his sleeping 74-year-old mother and then murdering his mentally disturbed 39-year-old brother in their Mill Valley home. McDermand was the subject of a huge manhunt for days, during which he sent letters to local newspapers covering the case. At trial, Bjorklund's arguments persuaded a judge to set aside the jury's death penalty recommendation and sentence McDermand to life in prison instead.

Mr. Bjorklund moved his practice to San Rafael in the 1980s, handling more high-profile cases.

He represented Ann McDonald, who, with her lover Alfred Braunberger, were convicted and sentenced to life for the murder-for-hire slaying of her husband of 13 years in 1991. In that case, Mr. Bjorklund attacked the prosecution for what turned out to be a highly controversial decision to give immunity to the key witness, Manuel Martinez, who he said was the actual killer.

He continued to represent McDonald in appeals until the day he died.

Mr. Bjorklund's legend was solidified in 2000 when 10 jurors on a hung jury offered to collect money to pay for another trial, if necessary, for a San Quentin prison guard he defended against charges involving the physical abuse of a prisoner.

"Ten of the jurors not only voted not guilty, but they believed in the case so much that they actually offered to pay for him to retry it," Brown said. "I've never heard of anything like that before."

That case was eventually dismissed.

Mr. Bjorklund's first wife died in 1977, forcing him to raise his son and daughter by himself. He remarried in 1994, a year after attending his 50-year high school reunion and running into his high school sweetheart.

"My dad always did the right thing even when people weren't looking," said his daughter, Amy Bjorklund Reeder of Novato, who worked as his legal assistant for 10 years. "He didn't die a rich man. He was too honest to make a lot of money in that profession, but he died a truly rich man in terms of his devotion to his family and his profession and in the love that others felt for him."

Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife, Nancy "Pat" Bjorklund, of San Rafael; a son Peter, of Sausalito; and a grandson.